Wednesday, September 3, 2014

I haven't been here in awhile, though I have drafted a few posts that never made it to the site. The subjects have become stale, so it is probably no use saving old material. In any case, it is time for some new stuff.

Some of you that follow me know I write plenty around the net. I write because I read and I think I have something to say on a subject, right or wrong. Everyone has their own version of reality and that includes the guy that does your local news. Sports writers make Gods and goats and guys that write on markets and economics look like fools or geniuses, depending on which way the grain is running.

Though I am still interested mainly in markets and economics, reading various Austrian economic and libertarian sites, my perspective has changed somewhat. Though the perception presented in the mainstream press is that countries like Russia and China are run by oligarchs, the truth of the matter is, so are the western countries. There are questions about the politics and economics of the western states that I don't believe I would have asked a few years ago. Some of this is due to reading and listening to men like Murray Rothbard, one of the great informed minds of the last half of the last century. In many places, his philosophy would be dismissed as pure bullshit, as I was informed by one of my favorite writers on the net. But, my study of the last 100 years tells me Rothbard was right on. Whether you call it conspiracy or merely people with power taking care of their business and feathering their own nests, doesn't matter.

There are a couple of questions that have come to mind recently that I don't know I would have studied in the past. One is, why is the USA continually looking for the next scape to get into? This is even more important a question, as the resources of the country have become drained over the past 50 years or so, through the same repetitive activities. It is even more important, in that it appears the foreign policy and actions of the US are designed to create the next enemy, as they have with ISIS and Al Qaeda. I call this procedure knocking over bee hives. It appears we are racing toward a big finale, where Americans lose their prosperity and freedom and maybe even the war.

The biggest question that has to be asked today is, why are there more people in prison in the US than anywhere else in the world? It isn't just violence, but all kinds of crimes. And, why are so many common people in prison, yet those that rig financial games to defraud others and expose the economy to risks not there with them? Is there a good old boys club, where they not only profit from others being in prison, but they see to it that their crimes are swept under the table and at best, the corporation, generally a banking conglomerate, are fined?

In his history classes, Rothbard brought up something that isn't taught in American history, the religion of the Eastern Establishment, namely what Murray called Yankees. This not only has to do with morality, but it has to do with the promoted biblical prophecy that we hear all the time. I doubt there was much discussion of this prophecy 200 years ago, but someone found it and it appears they are pushing to bring it about. Rothbard says it caused the Civil War. I think it might have caused the prison population as well. Rothbard called these people humanitarians with a guillotine. They have been around for hundreds of years. The idea of socialism and communism actually is derived from these religious groups.

One thing I never thought would happen was the degree of asset purchases we have seen by the central banks. I suspected the US would do the same thing as Japan when the time came, after many claims that they would never do so. The US has done one thing differently, they recapitalized the banks first then shoved in the dirt. Being that the balance sheet of banks can only be recapitalized by shifting money from being liabilities to capital, someone had to replace the money for the scam to work. The debts owed banks can only be paid out of the supply of money on the credit side of the schedule or by reducing capital. This back door bailout has kept a lot of powerful people, many guilty of criminal activity, in power.

Then we have the greatest asset bubble in history. You would think we are in an economic boom, but the spending power of the basic customer of the corporate world has been exhausted. We are instead in an inflationary asset bubble, where the real power has been provided by low interest rates and the borrowing of money to buy back stock by companies that will have little means of repaying the money should another credit crunch occur. In the process, the purchasing power of those lower down the economic scale has been diminished greatly. The equation is broke and the US, save for the fact the population is still growing is headed for a Japan situation. Europe is already there.

I hope to see all of you soon. I will dedicate time to post this site 3 or 4 times a month minimum. I encourage debate, should you like to comment. Thanks for showing up.